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Price will accept the Warren Spahn Award as the best left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in a gala Jan 20th at the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame & Jim Thorpe Museum. The award is based on a pitcher’s wins, strikeouts and earned run average. Price had 19 wins, 188 strikeouts and a 2.72 ERA during the 2010 season.

"I am honored to hear I will be receiving the Warren Spahn Award,” Price said in a statement. “To be included in a group with the past winners — CC Sabathia, Randy Johnson, and others —is very exciting.”

Here's more from the release:

Greg Spahn, son of the late Warren Spahn, said it was a battle right down to the very last day of the regular season. Three-time Spahn Award winner CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees was in the lead for most of the season, but Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox took over with only a couple of weeks to go. Lester maintained the lead until his last start.

“What a race to the end for the Warren Spahn Award,” Spahn said. “Sabathia looked like he was going to finish strong and win another Spahn Award. Then here came Jon Lester and David Price, and it all came down to their last starts.”

Price’s 2010 accomplishments include being selected as the starting pitcher for the American League All-Star Game and leading the Rays in winning the AL East Division. Originally from Nashville, Tenn., Price attended Vanderbilt University and was the first overall draft pick in 2007.

In its 12th year, the Spahn Award is named after Oklahoman and National Baseball Hall of Famer Warren Spahn, who holds the MLB record of 363 wins as a left-handed pitcher. The Warren Spahn Award Gala is hosted by Oklahoma City’s Bricktown Rotary Club and the Jim Thorpe Association. The gala will also honor “Voice of the Cowboys” Dave Hunziker as winner of the Bill Teegins Award, which is presented annually to an outstanding sportscaster with Oklahoma ties.

Spahn Award Chairman Bill Hickman said the Spahn Award raises Oklahoma City’s profile as a big league city and enriches even more the legacy of baseball legend Warren Spahn.

“We’re delighted to welcome David Price to Oklahoma City for the award presentation,” Hickman said. “David Price has established himself as an ace pitcher — starting in the AL All-Star Game, winning the AL East Division over the Yankees, and now winning the Warren Spahn Award. It’s exciting to see a young lefty accomplish so much this early in his career.”

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